[ all that's left, on the writhing mass of vines, are akito's glasses and a smear of blood along the ground.
there's no fight. no explosion to precede this. no ichika to tell you it'll be alright.
around him, people are crying and screaming, crushing one another - crabs in a bucket. the metal of the tunnel groans again, glass shattering closest to where the entrance once was. the vines are making their way along, and your lungs... they don't burn too much, not yet, but the pollen and spores glitter on the glass above you as the spiderweb fractures let in air from outside.
temenos, owner, adrastea - their voices, one after another. but adrastea speaks again, to kazuki specifically. ]
Listen to me. Put your helmet on, Kazuki. [ even. their voice stays even. ] I'm going to try and land closer to you, but it's going to take me time with these winds. Stay calm and try to find a weak point in the glass.
[ another groan of metal and glass, as the vines get closer to where he is.
But Akito - he's still... [ kazuki argues, still staring at the place where akito was, that trail of blood, and knowing that the worst has probably already happened but still unable to really believe it. it's so much blood. before last weekend, he'd never dreamed of seeing so much, let alone from his best friend.
"stay calm," they say, as he's being jostled, pushed away from that spot, and he has to fight to stay close to the glass. the sound of the tunnel giving way, falling apart, strikes a fresh jolt of fear in kazuki's heart, so much that he almost doesn't hear the rest of what they say. panic is a primal thing, overriding rational thought: he has to get out. he can't stay here. at best he'll be crushed in this mass of bodies, and at worst--
--he doesn't get a chance to think about that as he watches akito's glasses shatter under the vines, and he suddenly finds it hard to breathe. but not from the pollen, though that slight burn is starting to get to him.
helmet. helmet, they said. ]
A-Adrastea-san. [ his voice shakes, betraying the fear as he reaches up to activate the helmet. ] It's- I don't think... the tunnel's going to last. The vines, they're - they're getting closer.
[ funny. he always expected danger in shinjuku, but that was always from bombs, or guns. modern threats, all from terrible people who'd lost sight of reality or just never cared about others in the first place. it scared him, of course, but he'd come to expect the worst in people. he'd accepted that he could easily die at any moment, and he wouldn't even know what what was happening.
but staring danger in the face like this, hungry vines hunting down a helpless, screaming crowd? with the faces of those who'd already suffered in the past burned into his mind? knowing what's coming, and how terrible it must be?
[ they can't do anything for akito, but adrastea can try to do something for kazuki. he won't be able to see where they are, but the sound of wind rushing across the communication feed fades away, and they keep as calm as they ask kazuki to be. ]
How far away from the end of the tunnel are you?
[ akito realized that there was no entrance, no exit, here at the tunnel before reaching the end of it. his handprints are still smeared against the glass where kazuki stands, as his glasses and his blood are devoured in the mass of overgrowth. this time, he's really gone - not just disappeared away, not just suffering the consequences of his choices.
but maybe adonis isn't wrong. look at what happened here, because of these people.
the thought is yours, but not at the same time.
the faces of the bloomed still stare down at him from the true hanging gardens, hands reaching, bark flesh weathered by time and the elements. like this, with the vines tangling everywhere, the throng of bodies pushing and clamoring for freedom, for safety, it almost looks like they're beckoning instead of reaching out for salvation. ]
[ that thought cuts him off, shaking kazuki to his core. not once in the past nine months had he thought adonis could have been right. not once had he ever even entertained the idea that anyone deserved what adonis gave them - even the cops from that first incident, the ones who ruined isshiki-san's career. it's so sudden, so abnormal, that he's stunned silent.
even these people... even if they're terrible, even if they came here just to watch people suffer. they don't deserve this fate, do they? no one does, kazuki's pretty certain... but it's almost like those faces staring down at them are the ones doing the judging, now.
he tries back away from the glass, from those faces, as far as the crowd will allow. there's not much give, though, with nowhere else to go. ]
it echoes, overlaps, tangles together as he tries to back away from the glass. he's bumped and jostled, but he does find himself consumed by the masses rather than the vines in this regard. it's almost easier to become one with the crowd, a turbulent river of panic and bodies. some of them are covering their mouths and noses still, others are trying to find a way to break the glass.
and then there's kazuki, smashed in with them, sheathed knife in hand and nothing else to keep him safe anymore. it's not the subway back home. it's not a busy street corner with a mindless crowd wanting to cross.
it's not being lonely at home, waiting with thinly concealed worry about ichika coming home.
and there's going to be a day where she doesn't after all the lies she's told you. ]
[ everyone is a liar. every last one of these people pushing him around, everyone back home, even kazuki himself. they all lie. that's just how things are.
kazuki holds the knife to his chest, making himself as small as he can while he still somehow has a guitar on his back. he has to get out, he has to get out.
he squeezes his eyes shut for a moment, takes a deep breath, and tries to push these thoughts from his mind. but the memory of ichika nervous glance away when he asked about akito, the gentle smile she gave him as she promised to make it home...
she could never know if she would, one way or another, but they had to believe it, anyway. kazuki refuses to think about the alternative - that ichika might be the next name on the news, that x-day will continue on as planned.
he'll never know if he doesn't make it out of here alive. ]
Adrastea-san... [ his voice breaks, but he ignores it to stare at the vines, glancing at the pollen where it settles on glass that could give at any moment, at the faces in the plants that reach out for all of them. ] E-End of the tunnel, toward the middle.
[ a wince as he takes an elbow right in the stomach, and he needs a moment to catch his breath. ]
[ adrastea is silent, for a little while. but the feed is still open communication, because there's the sound of emergency beeping on the other end of the line that goes ignored by the officer.
the metal buckles more, and some of the glass practically pops out of the frame of the tunnel, shattering in other places. kazuki will feel a shower of it being shot at him, but at least his face is protected by the helmet. a sting of it cuts through the thinner layers of his clothes, against his neck and hands.
you'll die here, and ichika will never know. she will come home every night wondering if it was her fault. if you left because of her. ]
I will. Head towards the end, as far away from the vines as you can get. If you can find a crack, or a weak spot where the glass meets metal, use something to try and break it.
[ the wind picks up again over the feed, and the cracks continue to spiderweb across every single pane of glass as people press tight together. ]
How am I supposed to avoid them? They're everywhere!
[ he's surrounded and it doesn't look like any one direction is safer than the other. the sound of the glass coming loose sends another jolt of panic through him, makes his heart pound in his chest - instinctively, he tries to shield his face, regardless of the helmet keeping him safe. it doesn't save the rest of him, though, and he flinches as his skin starts to burn, looking once again at the vines creeping in with dread.
is he going to die here? it sounds likely, and ichika never did make him promise to come home safe, did she? is she going to fix the whole situation in shinjuku and come home to find he's not there, after all?
kazuki can only imagine how she'd feel, because it's the same for him. so he has to make it out. he has to, and desperation is such a powerful motivator. he watches the cracks grow, splintering the glass, and steels himself to shove his way forward again. the vines are close, too close for comfort, but he won't just die without a fight.
the second he's close enough, kazuki grits his teeth, says a silent prayer to gods he never really cared about, and slams the knife down on the glass with as much strength as he can summon.
If you don't try, you'll die either way. But I'm almost above the tunnel. [ it's not very comforting, but adrastea does not sugarcoat. because kazuki doesn't need someone to sugarcoat it, he doesn't need the reminder of the position that he's in. he just needs to move.
I promise, Kazuki. I'll be careful.
the glass fractures, cracks, breaks, and between his momentum and the power he puts into it his hand goes right through, bloodying and cutting it as it does. better hold onto the knife, kazuki, because he's going to need it as the vines constrict even tighter around the tunnel and practically ooze their way along to where he is.
but he could climb out, if he's willing to risk the injury. ]
[ he lets breathes in a hiss as the glass bites through the gloves and into skin. the pain loosens his grip on the knife, but somehow - somehow he keeps hold of it, just barely, clutching his hand to his chest as the vines start to close in immediately.
as fierce as kazuki's attitude may be, ichika is the fighter between the hoshino siblings. the younger has a gentle heart, enough to nearly bring him to tears at the thought of ichika not coming home. it makes him useless in situations like this, where instead of fight or flight, his body simply freezes in place, rooting kazuki to the ground. it happens again now, as he stares down the plants creeping toward him.
was this really the right move, adrastea-san?
the way i've really been sitting here staring at this tag because adrastea told him to stay away from the vines but injuries are fun. with no other route of escape and the vines surrounding them all, the only way out is up, isn't it? or risk being dragged out into the verdure, just like akito.
- that'll have to be enough to spur him on. akito had looked just as alarmed to see him here, so... he wouldn't want kazuki to die, too, would he?
he starts to climb these stupid vines. fuck it we ball. ]
[ in this slowly crushing death trap, the choices are this: stay, and be crushed by the people if not the vines, or climb out and try. they aren't glamorous choices, but trying is better than locking up, than letting the end come with a finality that isn't taken into your own hands.
kazuki's hands are cut up further in the process, because there's glass and thorns everywhere. the gloves can only protect him so much at the moment, but at least it's enough that he's not lost any fingers or an entire hand in the process (yet). but the vines outside move far more freely, and they immediately start to wrap around him once he's out of the tunnel.
others try to follow. someone pulls on the guitar case, desperate for purchase, before there's a scream of them being yanked out by a vine instead. the grip on the case changes to vines ensnaring it, ensnaring him, wrapping around his left arm his waist (just like akito) around his neck.
the thorns dig into skin everywhere the vines touch, and while the pollen needs your airways to take true effect... they're not particularly pleasant to have rubbed into open wounds, either. ]
[ something about the other partygoers reaching for him and the case on his back makes it all the more horrifying. gone are the posh mannerisms and the judgment, lost in the desperation to survive. the irony could almost be funny, if kazuki had a chance to stop and think about it.
with all the adrenaline pumping through his veins, he hardly notices the damage to his hands, but the vines are impossible to ignore. the image of akito and his last words is still burning fresh in his mind, fueling him onward with a fresh spike of terror as that scream, too close for comfort at first, fades out, until suddenly he can't move. he glances back just in time for the vines to reach him, holding him back, staring to choke.
gasping, he claws at the vines to try to pull them away from his neck, to try to breath, but it must be hard to gain purchase with a helmet in the way, too. ]
[ the helmet both protects and hinders him, and as he claws at the vines, some of them overlap with his fingers - but the pain of a few broken fingers isn't much in the face of being unable to breathe.
another, passing thought that is his and yet isn't at the same time slowly leeks in as the oxygen is cut off, as the vines dig their thorns into his skin.
you're more like your sister than you'll ever know.
more hands are trying to reach out, desperate for freedom, but there is no safety outside of the tunnel either. a cacophony of screams, shattering glass, and groaning metal comes as kazuki can just barely see, in his current state, the tunnel crushed by the overgrowth. the vines have formed together to the point of being as thick as trees, and now all that's left is green and red.
the toxin of the pollen gets rubbed into his neck, his hands, his body, and he'll be able to feel the slightest muscle spasms where those wounds are. but his vision hasn't started to go dark yet. ]
[ it's a little hard to notice anything else with a vine constricting around your throat. he keeps pulling at it, frantic for escape, gasping for air as another thought strikes him.
ichika...?
it feels insane, thinking something like that right now. it's so out of left field that kazuki is stills, just for a second, in confusion, just enough to see the tunnel finally collapse and listen to the screams like a lullaby of despair for the dying. he can't see the carnage from here, only vines and blood, and for one brief, delirious moment, he's grateful for that.
then his muscles begin to spasm, his lungs are still burning from the lack of air, and what is he supposed to do? he can't get out. he's trapped. he's going to die here, without ever seeing akito or ichika again. he keeps pulling at the vines around his neck with all his strength, but without being able to breathe, he's losing steam fast. ]
[ the vines tighten further, a collar around his neck, choking and poisonous. and he'll never know. he'll never know the truth, because it's always kept from him - for his safety, maybe, but the lies keep piling on until they bleed together.
a searing pain is added to the mix as his arm is dislocated, but that's all piling on, too. what's it matter at this point when there's nothing left for him to do but wait for it all to end?
except - a wave of energy washes abruptly over the area, and the vines start to convulse. a snake with its head cut off, body seizing, whipping around. kazuki isn't released, but the grip loosens enough that he can suck in a gasp of air.
and something warm settles between his shoulders, despite the guitar case still resting there. like a hand. and a thought that is his but isn't his says something in a familiar voice, worried.
Easy does it, Kazuki. I'm right here. It's okay. ]
[ though his vision goes red with pain, all kazuki can eke out is a strained whimper as the vines' hold tightens all around him. it's like the very life is being squeezed out of him, and he can almost feel it leaving him.
but then, finally - relief.
he chokes for air, scrambling to use whatever purchase this small respite has given him to yank the vines away from his neck with his good arm, no heed to how the thorns rip into his skin. he only slows when he hears that voice. ]
Nee...chan...
[ he tries to turn as if to look for her, as if she's right here to help him find a way out of this blooming prison.
[ You can do it, just keep going - just like that.
the voice is encouraging, and the warmth feels like it's trying to guide him out. just a little bit further, he can get free of the vines, get out of this hell that they were all sent to. blood oozes down his neck, wrapped all the way around it, and stains the collar of his clothes, but he's getting out.
there's no ichika to find, but the presence is still there. nestled in the back of his mind. now, he's not so alone. now, there's a little more strength for him to be able to free himself from the remaining vines, slack around his waist, slipping off his arm with a rough drag of briars on fabric.
and real hands are reaching out for him, now, as it turns out. the craft has landed nearby him, and adrastea climbs up the massive tangle of vines, heedless of the corpses mangled amongst them. their helmet is off, but it's hard to make out their face - just that they have dark, short hair that's windtorn, now, and cybernetic eyes that are... sparking, flaring, and bleeding. the lensflare effect and the blood are the reason why you can't really see their face. ]
[ despite everything, ichika has always taken care of him. even when kazuki refused to acknowledge her, gave her hell for not taking a real interest in him as a person and what he cared about instead of making assumptions for him, she's always made sure he was as safe as he could be. she may not be here, but he can still trust that voice. he can trust neechan.
it's hard to move like this, with his arm hanging limp and so much of him losing blood, but he tries. he shoves away what he can with his good arm, drags himself over the vines that were just trying to crush him, ignoring the thorns in the rush to get out.
distracted as he's been, kazuki jerks back from adrastea out of pure reflex. it could have been another set of hands looking to drag him down, to use him as leverage to escape for themselves, but - none of the guests had eyes like this. it's slow to set in that it has to be adrastea, without the helmet for once, that it's their voice and not ichika's calling for him.
something inside him crumbles as he reaches back. ]
[ ichika's warmth doesn't ever fade, but her voice does - she supports him still, quiet, letting him do what he needs to do but guiding where she can. and he might flinch away, but adrastea doesn't flinch away when kazuki does. they wait until he's ready - though are glad that it doesn't take him too long - and then take his hand with one of theirs when he reaches back out.
their free hand lifts up, wiping away some of the blood. there's a small, reflexive flinch as the wetware in their eyes sparks again, but they've cleared their face, so when the hand comes away...
... the bloodied face of an older woman looks back at him, eyes trying to focus as they bleed from the tearducts and the skin-like panels on her face. ]
C'mon, let's get you on the ship. Temenos is looking for Owner, now, and Todomatsu is on the way. We've got you.
[ if their grip on his hand hurts, he doesn't show it - maybe it'll hit him later, once the adrenaline begins to wear off. for now, kazuki just stumbles out of the vines, glancing back at them once as if expecting them to rear back up and attack them both.
when they don't, he takes a deep, shuddering breath, throat stinging.
we've got you. adrastea isn't ichika, but they're here, they're helping, and ichika... he's sure that she'd tell him to go, too. that he'll be safe with them.
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there's no fight. no explosion to precede this. no ichika to tell you it'll be alright.
around him, people are crying and screaming, crushing one another - crabs in a bucket. the metal of the tunnel groans again, glass shattering closest to where the entrance once was. the vines are making their way along, and your lungs... they don't burn too much, not yet, but the pollen and spores glitter on the glass above you as the spiderweb fractures let in air from outside.
temenos, owner, adrastea - their voices, one after another. but adrastea speaks again, to kazuki specifically. ]
Listen to me. Put your helmet on, Kazuki. [ even. their voice stays even. ] I'm going to try and land closer to you, but it's going to take me time with these winds. Stay calm and try to find a weak point in the glass.
[ another groan of metal and glass, as the vines get closer to where he is.
outside, the glasses are crushed beneath them. ]
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"stay calm," they say, as he's being jostled, pushed away from that spot, and he has to fight to stay close to the glass. the sound of the tunnel giving way, falling apart, strikes a fresh jolt of fear in kazuki's heart, so much that he almost doesn't hear the rest of what they say. panic is a primal thing, overriding rational thought: he has to get out. he can't stay here. at best he'll be crushed in this mass of bodies, and at worst--
--he doesn't get a chance to think about that as he watches akito's glasses shatter under the vines, and he suddenly finds it hard to breathe. but not from the pollen, though that slight burn is starting to get to him.
helmet. helmet, they said. ]
A-Adrastea-san. [ his voice shakes, betraying the fear as he reaches up to activate the helmet. ] It's- I don't think... the tunnel's going to last. The vines, they're - they're getting closer.
[ funny. he always expected danger in shinjuku, but that was always from bombs, or guns. modern threats, all from terrible people who'd lost sight of reality or just never cared about others in the first place. it scared him, of course, but he'd come to expect the worst in people. he'd accepted that he could easily die at any moment, and he wouldn't even know what what was happening.
but staring danger in the face like this, hungry vines hunting down a helpless, screaming crowd? with the faces of those who'd already suffered in the past burned into his mind? knowing what's coming, and how terrible it must be?
maybe bombs aren't so scary, by comparison. ]
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How far away from the end of the tunnel are you?
[ akito realized that there was no entrance, no exit, here at the tunnel before reaching the end of it. his handprints are still smeared against the glass where kazuki stands, as his glasses and his blood are devoured in the mass of overgrowth. this time, he's really gone - not just disappeared away, not just suffering the consequences of his choices.
but maybe adonis isn't wrong. look at what happened here, because of these people.
the thought is yours, but not at the same time.
the faces of the bloomed still stare down at him from the true hanging gardens, hands reaching, bark flesh weathered by time and the elements. like this, with the vines tangling everywhere, the throng of bodies pushing and clamoring for freedom, for safety, it almost looks like they're beckoning instead of reaching out for salvation. ]
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[ that thought cuts him off, shaking kazuki to his core. not once in the past nine months had he thought adonis could have been right. not once had he ever even entertained the idea that anyone deserved what adonis gave them - even the cops from that first incident, the ones who ruined isshiki-san's career. it's so sudden, so abnormal, that he's stunned silent.
even these people... even if they're terrible, even if they came here just to watch people suffer. they don't deserve this fate, do they? no one does, kazuki's pretty certain... but it's almost like those faces staring down at them are the ones doing the judging, now.
he tries back away from the glass, from those faces, as far as the crowd will allow. there's not much give, though, with nowhere else to go. ]
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it echoes, overlaps, tangles together as he tries to back away from the glass. he's bumped and jostled, but he does find himself consumed by the masses rather than the vines in this regard. it's almost easier to become one with the crowd, a turbulent river of panic and bodies. some of them are covering their mouths and noses still, others are trying to find a way to break the glass.
and then there's kazuki, smashed in with them, sheathed knife in hand and nothing else to keep him safe anymore. it's not the subway back home. it's not a busy street corner with a mindless crowd wanting to cross.
it's not being lonely at home, waiting with thinly concealed worry about ichika coming home.
and there's going to be a day where she doesn't after all the lies she's told you. ]
no subject
kazuki holds the knife to his chest, making himself as small as he can while he still somehow has a guitar on his back. he has to get out, he has to get out.
he squeezes his eyes shut for a moment, takes a deep breath, and tries to push these thoughts from his mind. but the memory of ichika nervous glance away when he asked about akito, the gentle smile she gave him as she promised to make it home...
she could never know if she would, one way or another, but they had to believe it, anyway. kazuki refuses to think about the alternative - that ichika might be the next name on the news, that x-day will continue on as planned.
he'll never know if he doesn't make it out of here alive. ]
Adrastea-san... [ his voice breaks, but he ignores it to stare at the vines, glancing at the pollen where it settles on glass that could give at any moment, at the faces in the plants that reach out for all of them. ] E-End of the tunnel, toward the middle.
[ a wince as he takes an elbow right in the stomach, and he needs a moment to catch his breath. ]
Get me out of here.
[ please. ]
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the metal buckles more, and some of the glass practically pops out of the frame of the tunnel, shattering in other places. kazuki will feel a shower of it being shot at him, but at least his face is protected by the helmet. a sting of it cuts through the thinner layers of his clothes, against his neck and hands.
you'll die here, and ichika will never know. she will come home every night wondering if it was her fault. if you left because of her. ]
I will. Head towards the end, as far away from the vines as you can get. If you can find a crack, or a weak spot where the glass meets metal, use something to try and break it.
[ the wind picks up again over the feed, and the cracks continue to spiderweb across every single pane of glass as people press tight together. ]
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[ he's surrounded and it doesn't look like any one direction is safer than the other. the sound of the glass coming loose sends another jolt of panic through him, makes his heart pound in his chest - instinctively, he tries to shield his face, regardless of the helmet keeping him safe. it doesn't save the rest of him, though, and he flinches as his skin starts to burn, looking once again at the vines creeping in with dread.
is he going to die here? it sounds likely, and ichika never did make him promise to come home safe, did she? is she going to fix the whole situation in shinjuku and come home to find he's not there, after all?
kazuki can only imagine how she'd feel, because it's the same for him. so he has to make it out. he has to, and desperation is such a powerful motivator. he watches the cracks grow, splintering the glass, and steels himself to shove his way forward again. the vines are close, too close for comfort, but he won't just die without a fight.
the second he's close enough, kazuki grits his teeth, says a silent prayer to gods he never really cared about, and slams the knife down on the glass with as much strength as he can summon.
ichika... ]
no subject
I promise, Kazuki. I'll be careful.
the glass fractures, cracks, breaks, and between his momentum and the power he puts into it his hand goes right through, bloodying and cutting it as it does. better hold onto the knife, kazuki, because he's going to need it as the vines constrict even tighter around the tunnel and practically ooze their way along to where he is.
but he could climb out, if he's willing to risk the injury. ]
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as fierce as kazuki's attitude may be, ichika is the fighter between the hoshino siblings. the younger has a gentle heart, enough to nearly bring him to tears at the thought of ichika not coming home. it makes him useless in situations like this, where instead of fight or flight, his body simply freezes in place, rooting kazuki to the ground. it happens again now, as he stares down the plants creeping toward him.
was this really the right move, adrastea-san?
the way i've really been sitting here staring at this tag because adrastea told him to stay away from the vines but injuries are fun. with no other route of escape and the vines surrounding them all, the only way out is up, isn't it? or risk being dragged out into the verdure, just like akito.
- that'll have to be enough to spur him on. akito had looked just as alarmed to see him here, so... he wouldn't want kazuki to die, too, would he?
he starts to climb these stupid vines. fuck it we ball. ]
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kazuki's hands are cut up further in the process, because there's glass and thorns everywhere. the gloves can only protect him so much at the moment, but at least it's enough that he's not lost any fingers or an entire hand in the process (yet). but the vines outside move far more freely, and they immediately start to wrap around him once he's out of the tunnel.
others try to follow. someone pulls on the guitar case, desperate for purchase, before there's a scream of them being yanked out by a vine instead. the grip on the case changes to vines ensnaring it, ensnaring him, wrapping around his left arm his waist (just like akito) around his neck.
the thorns dig into skin everywhere the vines touch, and while the pollen needs your airways to take true effect... they're not particularly pleasant to have rubbed into open wounds, either. ]
no subject
with all the adrenaline pumping through his veins, he hardly notices the damage to his hands, but the vines are impossible to ignore. the image of akito and his last words is still burning fresh in his mind, fueling him onward with a fresh spike of terror as that scream, too close for comfort at first, fades out, until suddenly he can't move. he glances back just in time for the vines to reach him, holding him back, staring to choke.
gasping, he claws at the vines to try to pull them away from his neck, to try to breath, but it must be hard to gain purchase with a helmet in the way, too. ]
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another, passing thought that is his and yet isn't at the same time slowly leeks in as the oxygen is cut off, as the vines dig their thorns into his skin.
you're more like your sister than you'll ever know.
more hands are trying to reach out, desperate for freedom, but there is no safety outside of the tunnel either. a cacophony of screams, shattering glass, and groaning metal comes as kazuki can just barely see, in his current state, the tunnel crushed by the overgrowth. the vines have formed together to the point of being as thick as trees, and now all that's left is green and red.
the toxin of the pollen gets rubbed into his neck, his hands, his body, and he'll be able to feel the slightest muscle spasms where those wounds are. but his vision hasn't started to go dark yet. ]
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ichika...?
it feels insane, thinking something like that right now. it's so out of left field that kazuki is stills, just for a second, in confusion, just enough to see the tunnel finally collapse and listen to the screams like a lullaby of despair for the dying. he can't see the carnage from here, only vines and blood, and for one brief, delirious moment, he's grateful for that.
then his muscles begin to spasm, his lungs are still burning from the lack of air, and what is he supposed to do? he can't get out. he's trapped. he's going to die here, without ever seeing akito or ichika again. he keeps pulling at the vines around his neck with all his strength, but without being able to breathe, he's losing steam fast. ]
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a searing pain is added to the mix as his arm is dislocated, but that's all piling on, too. what's it matter at this point when there's nothing left for him to do but wait for it all to end?
except - a wave of energy washes abruptly over the area, and the vines start to convulse. a snake with its head cut off, body seizing, whipping around. kazuki isn't released, but the grip loosens enough that he can suck in a gasp of air.
and something warm settles between his shoulders, despite the guitar case still resting there. like a hand. and a thought that is his but isn't his says something in a familiar voice, worried.
Easy does it, Kazuki. I'm right here. It's okay. ]
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but then, finally - relief.
he chokes for air, scrambling to use whatever purchase this small respite has given him to yank the vines away from his neck with his good arm, no heed to how the thorns rip into his skin. he only slows when he hears that voice. ]
Nee...chan...
[ he tries to turn as if to look for her, as if she's right here to help him find a way out of this blooming prison.
neechan. what do i do? help, please-- ]
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the voice is encouraging, and the warmth feels like it's trying to guide him out. just a little bit further, he can get free of the vines, get out of this hell that they were all sent to. blood oozes down his neck, wrapped all the way around it, and stains the collar of his clothes, but he's getting out.
there's no ichika to find, but the presence is still there. nestled in the back of his mind. now, he's not so alone. now, there's a little more strength for him to be able to free himself from the remaining vines, slack around his waist, slipping off his arm with a rough drag of briars on fabric.
and real hands are reaching out for him, now, as it turns out. the craft has landed nearby him, and adrastea climbs up the massive tangle of vines, heedless of the corpses mangled amongst them. their helmet is off, but it's hard to make out their face - just that they have dark, short hair that's windtorn, now, and cybernetic eyes that are... sparking, flaring, and bleeding. the lensflare effect and the blood are the reason why you can't really see their face. ]
- Kazuki, Kazuki - [ oh, they're talking. ]
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it's hard to move like this, with his arm hanging limp and so much of him losing blood, but he tries. he shoves away what he can with his good arm, drags himself over the vines that were just trying to crush him, ignoring the thorns in the rush to get out.
distracted as he's been, kazuki jerks back from adrastea out of pure reflex. it could have been another set of hands looking to drag him down, to use him as leverage to escape for themselves, but - none of the guests had eyes like this. it's slow to set in that it has to be adrastea, without the helmet for once, that it's their voice and not ichika's calling for him.
something inside him crumbles as he reaches back. ]
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their free hand lifts up, wiping away some of the blood. there's a small, reflexive flinch as the wetware in their eyes sparks again, but they've cleared their face, so when the hand comes away...
C'mon, let's get you on the ship. Temenos is looking for Owner, now, and Todomatsu is on the way. We've got you.
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when they don't, he takes a deep, shuddering breath, throat stinging.
we've got you. adrastea isn't ichika, but they're here, they're helping, and ichika... he's sure that she'd tell him to go, too. that he'll be safe with them.
kazuki nods slowly, and follows their lead. ]
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